(Source: MIRS.news, Published 11/30/2023) The state House voted unanimously on legislation 19 times out of 586 roll call votes this year, the fewest number of unanimous votes in a regular session since the year after the U.S.-Mexican War in 1849, according to a MIRS analysis of roll call votes and a review of House journals from 1849-2022.
In 1850, at the beginning of the President Millard Fillmore administration, it only took legislators until March 14 to earn 20 unanimous votes. For the next 172 years, there was not a regular session in which the House took longer than Mother's Day to earn at least 20 unanimous votes.
Some years, it only took lawmakers a few weeks into January. In some cases, the House even recorded 20 unanimous votes in abbreviated special sessions that lasted only a few weeks.
Still, despite the state House adjourning by June for most of its history, its regular sessions featured more recorded roll call votes with zero no votes than what was seen in Lansing this year.
The 2023 House session featured a slim Democratic majority operating with a Democratic-controlled Senate and a Democratic governor for the first time since 1983. Anxious to finally advance their own policies, the Democrats spent much of their time (when they had 56 members present) turning back the clock on what Republicans advanced when they were charge.
Meanwhile, a philosophically driven “Freedom Caucus” found objectionable government expansion at every turn while a sharply polarized political environment always hung in the air.
To keep the 19 unanimous votes from 2023 in perspective, consider this:
From 2001 to 2022, the average number of unanimous votes cast in the House was 285. The number ranges from 697 unanimous votes in 2002 to 92 in 2022.
Never prior had there been fewer than 19 votes until 1849, six years before Michigan State University was founded, when only six unanimous roll call votes were recorded, out of fewer than 100 total votes taken.
Bill Ballenger, editor of The Ballenger Report, said that's likely because Michigan's original Constitution required lawmakers to meet every year, which was changed after 1850 to bi-annually.
House Democratic spokesperson Amber McCann attributed the extreme decline in unanimous support to several repeat no-voters in the Republican caucus who "are just not going to vote for anything that isn’t part of an extreme, right-wing agenda.”
“We’ve seen (bipartisan) support for many bills, but it’s been extraordinarily difficult to gain unanimous support given the holdouts from those more focused on party politics than the priorities of Michiganders," she said.
Several Republican members did vote no on a majority of Democrat-led bills, according to an earlier analysis done by MIRS.
That includes Rep. Josh Schriver (R-Oxford), who voted yes on only one of the 49 bills, Rep. Neil FRISKE (R-Charlevoix), who voted yes on two of them, Rep. Matt Maddock (R-Milford), who voted yes on three and Rep. Steve Carra (R-Three Rivers), who voted yes on four.
Carra confirmed that his frequent no votes were due to policy disagreements over Democratic priorities and a desire to shrink down government oversight.
“The reason why you would see less unanimous support for something is because the Democrats get to decide what comes up for a vote now,” he said.
He believes the Democratic Party is moving further to the left, though he said that shift is not contained to only Democrats, and the Republican Party is, too.
But Carra added that corruption also plays a role in his eyes.
“I think their (Democrats’) policies used to be bad,” he said, “but now I believe the Democratic Party is more corrupt than it used to be, and they're doing the bidding of the special interests and the corporate elite.”
He cited the large majority of Democrats that voted with their caucus more than 90% of the time, as reported by MIRS.
Carra said the large number of bills with unanimous Democratic support can be viewed as Democrats “not even thinking for themselves.
“They’re just doing what Gretchen Whitmer wants,” he said.
Another commentator told MIRS it’s less about what Democrats brought forward and more about what they didn’t.
Many bills with easy fixes or small policy tweaks, which would have had bipartisan support, were not pushed through the pipeline, and Democrats didn’t contact stakeholders about small fixes within bills that would get more stakeholders and Republicans on board.
Ballenger said it’s a combination of both.
On the one hand, politics has become more polarized, he said, with the Legislature “divided into two armed camps, and the possibility of unanimity on a vote shrinks when that happens.”
The days of moderates within political parties are over, he said, making it more difficult to find overlap and consensus on legislation.
Add in a change of power, and he said Republicans feel frozen out.
He said what’s been most astounding about this whole year has been the only two-seat majority.
“I mean, my God, in the past, you wouldn’t have thought it was possible for the majority party with only a two-seat majority to accomplish this,” he said.
“They’ve acted like they’re in control, 80-40,” he said.
“They’ve just rammed things through, and they steamrollered the Republicans,” he said. “They've given the Republicans very little input, very little consultation, and the conservative Republicans would be apt to be the people most bitter about that. Consequently, they're going to vote against everything that comes up.”
But Ballenger said with this strong concentration on high-priority issues, there was less of a focus by Democrats on easy fixes, or “dogs and cats bills,” which he described as fairly minor in impact, but easily agreed upon by both parties.
“There’s just been fewer and fewer of those this year than ever before,” he said.
Bill sponsors who have seen their bills voted out unanimously, like Rep. Graham FILLER (R-St. Johns), took a positive approach.
“Despite the partisan makeup, I do think that some really good policies have gotten done, especially the ones supporting victims,” he said, “and so I've been excited to work on them and find support from both sides.”
He called those bills a “recipe for success, which is finding things that the state of Michigan needs that can find bipartisan support and working in a methodical way with stakeholders.”
Traditionally, the House votes unanimously for Speaker, Speaker Pro Tem and House clerk. That didn't happen in 2023.
The first unanimous vote recorded wasn’t until April 20 (See “House Unanimous Votes Down From Average Of 70 To 6,” 6/23/23). That was Rep. Robert Bezotte (R-Howell)’s HB 4047, which designates Feb. 1 of each year as “Blue Star Mother’s Day,” and earned a 106-0 vote in favor. Reps. William Bruck (R-Erie), Graham Filler (R-St. Johns), Cynthia Neeley (D-Flint) and Karen Whitsett (D-Detroit) were absent that day.
Then, on May 24, Rep. Kelly Breen (D-Novi)’s HB 4121 and Rep. Kara HOPE (D-Lansing)’s HB 4122, both part of the package prompted by former Michigan State University sports physician Larry NASSAR, received a 107-0 vote.
The bills permanently revoke the medical licenses of physicians convicted of sexual assault under the pretext of medical treatment. Bruck, Neeley and Rep. Greg Markkanen (R-Hancock) were absent.
On June 20, Hope’s HB 4689, which designates a portion of U.S. 127 as the “Trooper Starr Memorial Highway,” received a 109-0 vote in favor, with only Bezotte absent.
Also in June, Sen. Erika Geiss (D-Taylor)’ SB 161 and Sen. Sean McCann (D-Kalamazoo)’s SB 162 both passed, 109-0, with Bezotte absent. The bills, taken up on June 22, modify certification requirements for teachers and school counselors coming from out of state.
They were followed on June 27 by Rep. Jimmie Wilson JR. (D-Ypsilanti)’s HB 4602, which designates a portion of I-94 as the “Washtenaw County Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway,” and earned a 108-0 vote in favor. Reps. Bezotte and Jamie Thompson (R-Brownstown) were absent.
The next unanimous legislation wasn’t passed until Sept. 27, when Rep. Angela Witwer (D-Lansing)’s HB 4337, which designates a portion of M-50 in Eaton County as the “Ensign Francis Flaherty Medal of Honor Recipient Memorial Highway,” was approved 110-0.
Rep. Sharon MacDonnell (D-Troy)’s two bills establishing penalties for coercing vulnerable adults into providing sexually explicit material, HB 4320 and HB 4387, both received 110 yea votes on Oct. 12. Another unanimous vote attributed to the bill package was taken on Nov. 9, when a substitute was unanimously concurred on HB 4387. That bill was also the last unanimous vote recorded this year.
Other bills receiving unanimous votes included:
- Rep. Nate Shannon (D-Sterling Heights)’s HB 4897, which provides for equipment sharing between the Department of Transportation (MDOT) and local road commissions and was taken up on Oct. 19.
- Rep. Graham Filler (R-St. Johns)’s HB 4416 and HB 4417, along with Rep. Kelly Breen (D-Novi)’s HB 4418 and HB 4419, which adjust maximum transfer values for vehicles and watercraft in the case of an owner’s death and were all voted out Oct. 25.
- Rep. Helena Scott (D-Detroit)’s HB 4722, which eliminates “Juneteenth National Freedom Day” to codify Juneteenth as a state holiday and passed on Nov. 2.
- Rep. Jay DeBoyer (R-Clay)’s HB 4154, which establishes a portion of M-3 as the “Senior Chief Petty Officer Jason P. May Memorial Highway” and passed Nov. 2.
- Bezotte's 4072, which allows for the use of headlight flashers and purple flags during funeral processions and was taken up Nov. 9.
